FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Nova Wars

Chapter 1: The Usual Plan

By Draconicon

The high ceilings and wide walls of Starflier Kamen's house were rather off-putting, particularly to someone that had lived in more tightly-bound quarters for the last five years. Nevertheless, Klim Hexclaw kept a small smile on his snout, the velociraptor shifting his position to lean one leg over the other. His toe claws tapped gently against the rat at his side, keeping him from moving as the great feral dragon before them reclined further against its hoard. Klim cleared his throat.

"Starflier, great one, I assure you that this investment will come back to you in spades. Dark matter has come a long way since its initial discovery, and soon, may eclipse the power that we get from stars entirely. I'm sure that you would love to be at the forefront of such a thing."

"I have...ahem..."

The massive dragon of gold and green cleared his throat, almost spitting a cloud of green fog over them. Klim resisted the urge to wave it away, trusting to the hospitality of the dragon that it wouldn't be something poisonous that he would have to worry about. His rat companion, Sollon, did the same, thankfully. He was glad that the rodent had managed to bury his fastidious nature, at least for the moment.

As Starflier Kamen cleared his throat again, Klim glanced down at the corpulent beast's great hoard. Long ago, he knew that the dragons of the Hierarchy had been keen to lay on gold and jewels, but times had changed. Beneath the massive Kamen lay other treasures. Disks of platinum, crystals of fire and explosive energy, great vials of red oil that burned with the power of a dying sun: it was all there, and some part of it, hopefully, would be his.

Klim looked back up as the dragon finished his coughing fit and bowed his head as the Starflier fixed him with a flat stare.

"What assurance do I have that my investment will be repaid?"

"An excellent question. Slave."

Nudging the rat with his toe claws again, he pushed Sollon to his feet. The rat kept his head down, carrying a projector under his arm. As trained, the rat went to his knees before the great dragon and pressed a button.

The projector unfolded, becoming a great disk in his arms, and the rat remained in place as the logo of the Elemantine Organization appeared. It spun in place a few times, and then disappeared, replaced by a batch of text.

"I have already contacted the EO, and they've agreed to hold portions of other contracts to this venture, matching your investment with one of their own. You will be given all your money back, regardless. As you can see, Great Starflier, it is not a risk in the slightest for you."

"This is an interesting proposal...and one that I am surprised others have not been offered. Why have I not heard of this from the other Starfliers?" Kamen growled.

"Perhaps, great one, it is because I have come to you first. I know your resources, and I know you are always on the cutting edge of technology. Why should I allow others of the Hierarchy to claim a reward they haven't pushed for before now?"

"You flatter me, Commodore. Perhaps I should consider this..."

Klim nodded, though not without a slight bob of his head in satisfaction. He reached up, adjusting the tight cord around his neck that kept the white officer's uniform tight at his throat.

"I would wish you to consider quickly, great one. Much as I have tried to keep the EO from rushing forward, as we all know, the mammals of the galaxy are most hurried in their lives. They do not understand the value of patience."

"Ah, but that they would learn."

"Indeed."

A slight glance down at the rat told him that Sollon was holding his temper. Good. They were almost in the clear.

"But they have said that they cannot hold this deal open for long. They require commitment, and soon. I would ask that you decide now, great one, if you can."

"Hmmm..."

The large dragon turned its attention back to the hoard before it, and Klim resisted the urge to keep talking. He'd laid out the information, and now, all he could do was wait.

He occupied himself by glancing around the room, taking in the details that he hadn't had a chance to appreciate when they walked in. The Starflier's personal chambers were massive, stretching out for a good fifty feet on either side, and leading upwards to a domed ceiling more than forty feet above them. It was topped with an opening in the roof that let in the clear air of the purple-tinged skies, and it lent the room itself a rather bright - if blue - light.

The room itself was staffed with many slaves, all mammalian and with less covering them than his own companion. While Sollon had been allowed to keep his pants, most of the others wore loincloths, or less. The only defining thing between them was the great metal collars that they wore around their necks, and the matching metal bands around their wrists and ankles. The marks of slavery, they immediately set apart any mammal that lived in Hierarchy territory from those that were just passing through.

Commodore Hexclaw was just listening to some of them chatting about some new arrival when the Starflier turned his attention to them once more.

"I believe that I can offer...something."

"Oh yes, great one?"

"Half of this. If the EO is willing to pay exactly my own investment, they can make do with half of their request."

"And you expect the same payout later?"

"Of course. After all, I am giving something rather than nothing."

"...You are, of course, brilliant as ever, Starflier Kamen."

The green dragon preened, rubbing his face with one great forepaw, while Klim just groaned on the inside. Half of the investment he wanted wasn't as good an outcome as he had hoped for, but...

Well, it was better than nothing.

"If you would press the button at the end of the contract, oh great one?"

"Yes, yes, contracts...the mammals are strange ones for those, aren't they?"

"Well, their memories are not as good as ours, great one."

The velociraptor got to his feet, his toe claws and dewclaws clicking as he walked up to the projector. Sollon looked up at him out of the corner of his eye, and he patted the rat on the shoulder. Just a gentle pat, a gentle squeeze, almost invisible to the eyes of anyone watching.

As soon as Starflier Kamen pressed the icon at the bottom of the contract, he allowed Sollon to pull back. The dragon pushed forward a portion of its hoard, measured precisely as dragons ever did. As the rat put the projector back where it belonged, on his back, and gathered up the treasure in a prepared storage container, the dragon looked down at him again.

"I will see a return on my investment soon, yes?"

"Very soon, oh great one. I imagine no more than four weeks of your planetary time."

"Good. I do not want to be apart from it for long."

"You will not."

He bowed in the style of the Soaring Fleet, one hand over his eyes and the other over his heart, trusting in the guidance of the Starfliers and the other great ones to carry him and guide him through the heavens. By the time he stood again, Kamen had turned away.

And now, time to make our departure.

As the white-suited Commodore and the rat slave made their way to one of the many wide holes in the wall at the edge of the chamber, he reached to his ear-hole. To anyone else, he would have looked like he was scratching an itch or dealing with a slight annoyance. In reality, he was tapping and activating an implant that he'd gotten a long time ago and turned his head. Acting as if he was whispering orders to his slave, he mouthed something else.

"Ailsa, is the Breakaway ready for departure?"

The answering crackle on the microphone told him that she was still putting her translator together. He waited for a few seconds, and soon, an electronic voice answered.

"Yeah, it's about as ready as it can be. We're down an engine or three, though."

"As long as the rest work. I heard something about a new arrival; get the power up, and make sure that you're ready to fly. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Understood. Anything else?"

"Yeah. Get Maggie ready to count. We're going to be short on the books, I think."

He rubbed the side of his head again, turning off the communicator. The rat nodded at him, Sollon acting as if he had just been given orders, and the rodent moved to walk ahead. Klim looked towards the hallway, saw a silhouette in the distance, and his hand twitched towards a blaster that he knew wasn't there. The same bad feeling that he'd felt a moment ago was rising stronger, now, and he didn't like the sense of it.

They reached the hallway the same time that the other silhouette did. Another white-suited officer, another raptor, and looking more than a little pissed off, for that matter. Klim offered a smile at the sight of the angry reptile and turned to the slaves.

"I believe we have an imposter. Do tend to him, will you?"

The slaves moved quickly, even as the other velociraptor started screaming at him.

"You! You're the one that stole the projector! I thought - seize him! Seize that pirate!"

"Sollon, I believe it's time to make our getaway, wouldn't you say?"

"I believe that time was five minutes ago, Captain."

"Commodore, please."

"As you say, Captain."

As planned, the rat dropped the projector, and the impact it made when it hit the floor released a massive electrical charge. It exploded outwards, slamming into the slaves, the raptor...and one of the oil basins that the Starflier kept at the edge of his treasure hoard.

The resulting explosion not only killed a number of slaves, but obliterated the other velociraptor and began burning through the stone itself. Red oil, after all, was one of the more high-intensity energy sources of the galaxy, and it did so love to consume what was around it.

"I believe that's our cue to leave!"

Klim and Sollon ran, with the screams of the trapped Starflier calling out behind them. They ran, and ran, and ran, with the slaves of the great palace turning to watch them as they fled, and the guards falling in behind them. Weapons fired, and occasionally, Klim or Sollon were able to throw a statue or something in the way, but most of the time they just hoped that they were moving fast enough and strangely enough to avoid getting shot.

From hall to room to hall again, they ran, and above them, he could hear other soldiers moving about. Probably more of the Starflier's guards, rushing down corridors to try and cut them off. He reached up, tapping the side of his head.

"Ailsa, we're going to need a ride, alright."

"On approach now, Captain."

"Commodore."

Sollon got ahead of him, the rat turning left, and promptly turning around again. Klim nearly ran into the great monitor lizard that was chasing after his companion, having to stutter-step to avoid sliding right past.

Looking at the rat and lizard running off in the other direction, he rolled his eyes and gave chase.

"Hey, you know he's owned!"

On instinct, the lizard turned, and it was just what Klim wanted. He barreled into the bigger scaly, slamming him to the ground. Rather than pinning him down, he rolled, spun, and brought his legs back down. A boot heel would have done nothing to the monitor lizard's head, but the claws of a raptor -

"I surrender!"

"Get his weapon, Sollon."

He kept the monitor pinned under his dewclaws and the others, the sharp points coming within microns of stabbing through scales and ripping the lizard a new one. As soon as the rat had the weapon, Sollon pointed it down and fired. The stun blast rippled through the air, and the guard was out.

"Better make sure that it's charged; we'll need all the ammo we can get," Klim said as he pulled himself to his feet.

"Already did, Captain. What's the plan?"

"Well, we've outrun most of them..."

Going through his memory, he tried to think of where they needed to go. Out the front door wasn't really an option, and they'd been sidetracked towards the western edge of the palace, which overlooked a cliff...

"That way."

He pointed west and got back to running.

It didn't take long for the guards to catch up to them, and they were soon followed by a roar that pierced the heavens. It seemed that the Starflier had managed to get out of his little burning treasure room, after all.

Klim didn't let it stop him. Trusting Sollon to keep the guards off their back, he led the way through the byzantine maze of wide corridors and empty spaces. It was the biggest trap of the great palaces of the Hierarchy. They were filled with open, empty spaces, making it impossible to differentiate one hall from another. More than that, they were all connected, so the turns you took might not be the turns that you remembered taking, so it was very easy to end up back in a place that looked the exact same as the place you left.

But if you had a good inner compass...

The velociraptor whipped around another corner and saw that they'd come to a dead end.

"Perfect."

"I fail to see the perfection here, captain."

"Give me the rifle."

Sollon tossed it over, and Klim turned the charge up to maximum. He felt the weapon rumble beneath his fingers, and just as it reached a point where it might have burst apart, he pulled the trigger. The resulting blue blast ripped through the air before him, and the stone wall, as well.

As the dust crumbled, he walked up to the hole, and then looked down.

"Yeah, I'd call that about perfect."

Beneath them was a massive drop, probably around a kilometer, towards the sea below. The palace had been built on the edge of a cliff, and he remembered that some of the lower parts had been built into the rock itself. With the lack of a window - as the Hierarchy loved their windows - he was pretty sure that it had been one of the places overlooking the water. It was a good thing he was right.

"Ailsa, you almost there?"

"Thirty seconds."

Click-click.

"I think we have a bit less than that."

"Attempting greater thrust..."

He nodded, slowly turning. The other end of the hallway was filled with more of the monitor lizards that had been chasing them for the last few minutes. Sollon had his hands up and was slowly backing up towards him. Klim raised his own arms, kicking the rifle backwards and through the hole.

One of the lizards, slightly taller than the others, stepped forward. He pointed his weapon at the velociraptor, snarling and hissing.

"You are under arrest for the attempted theft of Starflier Kamen's hoard, and for the attempted murder of said great one."

"Attempted? Only attempted? I thought we were doing pretty well, don't you, Sollon?"

"I believe that the attempt at levity is not going over well with our arresting officer, Captain."

"Commodore. Please, just once, commodore."

He turned his attention back to the monitor, trying to determine whether he had felt the vibrations of the Breakaway yet or not. It was still a bit early, possibly too early for it to be there, but if Ailsa was working her magic...He backed up another step or two, back towards the hole in the wall, and the lizard didn't stop him.

Smiling, Klim cocked his head to the side.

"Now, you wouldn't shoot a fellow scaly, would you?"

"I would shoot anything that threatened the great one Kamen."

"You know, that loyalty is all wrong. You could sound so much more impressive and less clingy if you just changed that a bit."

"Hmmph. This is the problem with outsiders, men. You leave the Hierarchy, and this is what you become."

"Better spoken?"

"Shut up."

"I would take his advice, Captain," Sollon muttered.

"I'd prefer to take the exit. Goodbye."

Trusting to luck, Klim took another step back and fell through the hole. Sollon followed afterwards, and thankfully for the both of them, a thump greeted them right after that. He smiled as the hatch of the Breakaway sealed behind them, and he called down the hall.

"Commodore onboard, get us the hell out of here!"

The engine vibrations rumbled under him, and he felt his ship take off with all the speed she could muster. Sollon was already gone, probably having rushed towards the main deck at the first opportunity. He did the same, making his way down to the bottom of the ship, hoping everyone was already at their stations.

As he got off the ladder at the bottom level, his quartermaster was already there, taking the goods from Sollon. The mare and the rat were in deep conversation, and he left them to it, turning his attention to the rest of the bridge.

The stingray woman that he'd picked up at the edge of Hierarchy space was already turning the Breakaway towards the upper atmosphere, her fingers and two of her tongues darting back and forth across the various control panels she had. He could feel the panels outside the ship adjusting themselves, and the engine ports shifting all around the shell of the ship to give different levels of thrusts gave their familiar whines as they complained.

"How are we doing?"

"Flying fast, sir. We have pursuit, but not much. Starflier Kamen doesn't seem too quick with his wings."

"Part of the reason I picked him for this little heist. He's not going to be able to lead anything."

"Any of his pilots going to be a problem?"

Klim shook his head as he looked to the upside-down gunnery officer. The wolf leaned in towards his screens, pressing a few buttons before turning back. As the Breakaway shuddered from recoil, Officer Lorkos shook his head.

"You sure, Captain? I'm itching for a good run."

"I'm sure, but I'm not looking for any chance that might break up the ship. We're on half-measures as it is. Ailsa, how much further?"

"Breaking atmosphere in 90 seconds."

"See if you can make it faster. Dresnath, anything besides the usual death threats on comms?"

"Nothing at the moment," the blue-green dragon muttered. "Looking like they're too angry at you for burning down the palace to do anything but scream at each other."

Klim nodded, making his way to the captain's chair in the center of the bridge. He sat down, leaning back and tapping his claws against the deck as he stared out the front view panel. The purple sky was slowly fading away as they made their way further and further towards space, and he could feel the little shudders of air resistance along the frame of the Breakaway easing off. They were almost past the point of air resistance, now.

Of course, that didn't mean that their pursuers were stopping. The craft coming up behind them had been keeping pace, but if they could maintain their lead when they got into outer space, out of the gravity wells...

Come on, just a bit further...

"Lorkos, give them a few more warning shots. Hit someone if you can, but make damn sure that they know they're going to get blasted out of the sky if they get much closer."

"Heh, with pleasure."

The wolf turned back to his screens, pushing a few buttons. Once more, the ship lurched, almost like they were getting kicked from behind. The wolf punched the air, laughing, so he supposed that one of their pursuers had taken a hit.

Finally, they escaped the atmosphere. He felt the engines along the outside of the ship come down to just beneath the bridge, rolling down the sides of the spherical ship, and all fifty of them burned at the same time. The sudden acceleration pushed them further and further from the planet below, carrying them out of reach of the fighter craft that were pursuing them.

"Dresnath, we have anything coming around the planet?"

"Nothing. Looks like they haven't even gotten interception orders out, yet."

"Good. Let's get out of here. Hard burst."

"You got it, sir."

The engines died for a moment, and then kicked. Hard. Everyone went flying against their seats, and those standing - namely Sollon and Maggie - went flying head over heels against the wall at the far side of the ship. The Breakaway was catapulted through space, flying at a hyper-accelerated rate, past the point of anyone catching up anytime soon.

When the ship's g-force compensators kicked in, he stood up.

"Alright...I'd call that a successful heist." The raptor rubbed his hands together. "Who's up for a celebration?"

"One sec, Captain."

Klim groaned, slowly turning his attention to his quartermaster. Maggie O'Mare walked up to him, still brushing dust off her jumpsuit, shaking her head as she did. She pulled her mane back over her shoulders and fixed him with a stare.

"I hear that we got less than what we were hoping for?"

"A bit, yes."

"How much less?"

"About half."

"Half?!"

"We'll make it work."

"Make it...you think..."

Maggie narrowed her eyes at him, and Klim ducked, just barely avoiding her throttling hands. She tumbled over him, and he flipped her the rest of the way to the floor. As she landed, he knelt over her, looking down to meet her eyes.

"I said, we'll make it work. There's always another con."

"Grrr..."

He patted her cheek, and then helped her back to her feet. The quartermaster usually calmed down quickly, though he kept an ear out for any further attacks, just in case. He turned his attention to the rest of the crew and held out his arms.

"What's everyone standing around for? It's time to get a celebration going."

"What kind of celebration, Captain?"

"What other kind, Sollon?"

Everyone else, even Maggie, started to smile as he reached for the buttons of his uniform. He undid the cord holding it to his neck, and then worked down his chest. By the time the jacket was off, the rest of the crew were starting to strip down, as well. Klim made his way to the pilot, rubbing a claw down the stingray's bare back, and glanced over his shoulder at his first mate.

"Sollon, you going to join us?"

"Not this time, Captain. Perhaps another."

"You always say that."

"And I will continue, at least once more. If all is well, I will see to storing the goods."

"Yes, you do that. Everyone else? Let's party!"

End of Chapter